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He’s in the select bunch of people who aren’t quite strong enough in a field sprint, but too strong to be let into a breakaway (or collaborated with).
But always in contention in a long stage with a sprinty finish, with podiums in World Champs, classics, monuments.I think he will be doing what he can in each sprint, but probably doesn’t warrant a full sprint train.
Caleb Ewan did alright with a decent Orica sprint train.
Acliff
Matthews isn't the fastest sprinter out of many bunches - would it matter if he had a train? Philipsen and Jakobsen clearly have a bigger punch in the high speed sprints, probably some others too if you look at the last couple of days. Stannard and Mezgec were up there so I reckon Matthews just didn't have the legs.
I think Matthews excels more in the stages where the really fast sprinters have been dropped on preceding climbs, which he can get over.